Working For The Weekend.....
Added Photos 12/20/09:
Here's the dining room. We went maroon and gold.
I got to use a lot Mom's old stuff, which was nice. The tree was hers and the bowl was from my old apartment. Nice to have them out.
We had all the sandwich fixins'. I bought a small watermelon and cut off the top and bottom and hollowed it out. I put the melon rind in the freezer and then later used it as a bowl. It kept the fruit cold and looked pretty too. I made cinnamon whipped cream (my new thing) to go with it.
We had gluten-free pasta salad, potato salad and lots of deviled eggs.
The Family Shot
This weekend is the big Oakes Family Christmas. Cathy is coming in from Texas. Jay and his kids are coming in from New Jersey. David's parents are driving down from New Hampshire. Everyone is staying at the hotel in Glastonbury, but Saturday they are all coming to David's house for lunch and gift opening, etc. I've tried to lay pretty low, as it's the aforementioned Oakes Family Christmas, but last weekend David suggested that I help him get the house in order and the lunch ready for everyone. And, of course, I was thrilled to do it.
I continue to be amused at the differences in families....not good or bad...just different. Maybe it's not even our "families" that I mean. It's just mom and I have a way that's different I guess. Okay, so we're a little over the top....okay, so we like to have lots of food and decorations and special touches...okay, so it takes a week to get ready for a party - no matter the size. But people enjoy themselves, right? It's fun, right? People go home full, right? ;) Yeah, I know...we're over the top. I make no apologies for it. But it's not until I'm half way through my project and I see the look of confused exhaustion on David's face that I even realize "this is not normal" to most people. It's a crazy Allen, TX Singleton thing. I forget that gathering boxes for different levels of height for the service tables is strange. It wasn't until David busted out laughing when I said "drink station" that I realized that's not in everyone's party planning vocabulary. Not everyone makes a gantt chart to have 10 people over for sandwiches.....I know. I get it. But I've got to tell you, and David can testify, that I have had the most fun these last few days!
First was the house. David put lights out in the front: white on the trim and colored on the two "christmas tree shaped" bushes. We got the tree up and coordinated. It's big and sparkly - red and gold ribbon running throughout. Love it! We bought 100 feet of the glittery, wired ribbon at Home Depot last year on clearance for practically nothing. It's some of the best ribbon I've ever used. It does EXACTLY what I want! (I highly recommend looking for it after Christmas!) I made a card ribbon for the doorway and glued the Christmas cards on it for a display and used some like a runner on the buffet. We bought tablecloths, place mats, dishes and all the decorations for the dining room and the kitchen. The dining room is gold and dark red, almost maroon, and the kitchen is red and green - much cuter for the kids. The presents were wrapped next to the burning stove to an old Bing and Rosemary Christmas radio show CD. It's been fun to make things feel like Christmas - and nice to have some of Mom's things with me up here to get me through the season.
I've pretty much finished my shopping (there wasn't much to do). I have a few stops tonight and at lunch tomorrow. I made the mistake of asking David what he wanted for Christmas. After the initial "How much money do I have to work with?" comment and the long glare that followed, he decided he wanted this: Black & Decker JUS500IB 500 Amp Jump Starter with Inflator. It's a device that re-starts your car battery. His battery is older and he doesn't want to get stuck. Somehow this is better than just buying a new battery - not sure the logic. But I'm pretty sure this is the equivalent to buying a girl a vacuum or blender for Christmas. Never the less, I bought it today. Worst gift ever? Yeah, probably.
To top the week off so far, I got a new agent who is quite a bit of work. I've had tons of projects and listings to work on. So the work days have gone just as quickly as the evenings. And 2010 promises to be much busier than 2009. Good news on the job front.
Well, it's 4:57pm here and I am off in 3 to hit Target and Wal-Mart and a few other places. I'll post photos of everyone and everything after the weekend.
Here's the dining room. We went maroon and gold.
I got to use a lot Mom's old stuff, which was nice. The tree was hers and the bowl was from my old apartment. Nice to have them out.
We had all the sandwich fixins'. I bought a small watermelon and cut off the top and bottom and hollowed it out. I put the melon rind in the freezer and then later used it as a bowl. It kept the fruit cold and looked pretty too. I made cinnamon whipped cream (my new thing) to go with it.
We had gluten-free pasta salad, potato salad and lots of deviled eggs.
The Family Shot
This weekend is the big Oakes Family Christmas. Cathy is coming in from Texas. Jay and his kids are coming in from New Jersey. David's parents are driving down from New Hampshire. Everyone is staying at the hotel in Glastonbury, but Saturday they are all coming to David's house for lunch and gift opening, etc. I've tried to lay pretty low, as it's the aforementioned Oakes Family Christmas, but last weekend David suggested that I help him get the house in order and the lunch ready for everyone. And, of course, I was thrilled to do it.
I continue to be amused at the differences in families....not good or bad...just different. Maybe it's not even our "families" that I mean. It's just mom and I have a way that's different I guess. Okay, so we're a little over the top....okay, so we like to have lots of food and decorations and special touches...okay, so it takes a week to get ready for a party - no matter the size. But people enjoy themselves, right? It's fun, right? People go home full, right? ;) Yeah, I know...we're over the top. I make no apologies for it. But it's not until I'm half way through my project and I see the look of confused exhaustion on David's face that I even realize "this is not normal" to most people. It's a crazy Allen, TX Singleton thing. I forget that gathering boxes for different levels of height for the service tables is strange. It wasn't until David busted out laughing when I said "drink station" that I realized that's not in everyone's party planning vocabulary. Not everyone makes a gantt chart to have 10 people over for sandwiches.....I know. I get it. But I've got to tell you, and David can testify, that I have had the most fun these last few days!
First was the house. David put lights out in the front: white on the trim and colored on the two "christmas tree shaped" bushes. We got the tree up and coordinated. It's big and sparkly - red and gold ribbon running throughout. Love it! We bought 100 feet of the glittery, wired ribbon at Home Depot last year on clearance for practically nothing. It's some of the best ribbon I've ever used. It does EXACTLY what I want! (I highly recommend looking for it after Christmas!) I made a card ribbon for the doorway and glued the Christmas cards on it for a display and used some like a runner on the buffet. We bought tablecloths, place mats, dishes and all the decorations for the dining room and the kitchen. The dining room is gold and dark red, almost maroon, and the kitchen is red and green - much cuter for the kids. The presents were wrapped next to the burning stove to an old Bing and Rosemary Christmas radio show CD. It's been fun to make things feel like Christmas - and nice to have some of Mom's things with me up here to get me through the season.
I've pretty much finished my shopping (there wasn't much to do). I have a few stops tonight and at lunch tomorrow. I made the mistake of asking David what he wanted for Christmas. After the initial "How much money do I have to work with?" comment and the long glare that followed, he decided he wanted this: Black & Decker JUS500IB 500 Amp Jump Starter with Inflator. It's a device that re-starts your car battery. His battery is older and he doesn't want to get stuck. Somehow this is better than just buying a new battery - not sure the logic. But I'm pretty sure this is the equivalent to buying a girl a vacuum or blender for Christmas. Never the less, I bought it today. Worst gift ever? Yeah, probably.
To top the week off so far, I got a new agent who is quite a bit of work. I've had tons of projects and listings to work on. So the work days have gone just as quickly as the evenings. And 2010 promises to be much busier than 2009. Good news on the job front.
Well, it's 4:57pm here and I am off in 3 to hit Target and Wal-Mart and a few other places. I'll post photos of everyone and everything after the weekend.
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